The Gentlemen Drum Choir perform at the 7th Annual Keith Hall Summer Drum Intensive in 2013. When Monk recorded “Bemsha Swing” for his 1957 album Brilliant Corners, drummer Max Roach availed himself of some timpani which happened to be in the recording studio. This recording seems to have encouraged “percussive” interpretations of the tune, which…
Author: Alan Vanneman
We have survived Trump. Can we survive the Republican Congress?
My answer is, probably not. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) are asking the FBI to investigate allegations (made by them) that Christopher Steele, author of the famous/infamous Trump dossier, may have lied to federal authorities. The basis for these allegations? Well, they aren’t saying. And Politico’s Kyle Chene, reporting…
Israel? Is that a country?
I guess I could also call this “The Saga of Jennie” because it’s genesis, so to speak, and center is WashPost pseudo-“Right Turn” gal Jennifer Rubin, about whom I recently wrote in the post “Jennie made her mind up”, noting, with pleasure, that Jennie’s political outlook had made not a right turn but a 180,…
Thelonious Dub— “Bemsha Swing”
Joe Bartone, guitar, with (maybe) Sean Rainey, drums, and John Von, bass. I couldn’t get a fix on the sax guy at all. From 2009. Posted by fpe
The Crown, Season 2: Yeah, Queen!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ME2umFQ_xBA Last year, I gave a severe thumb’s down to Netflix’s $100 million (seriously?) ode to Good Queen Bess II, aka The Crown, in a post wittily titled “Hey , Netflix! “The Crown” sucks!” and swore I’d never watch another episode. But then I came up with a head—viz, “Yeah, Queen!”—that was so damn funny—seriously,…
Yo, Kevin Williamson! New York still not “sliding back into pre-Giuliani chaos”!
Yo, Kevin Williamson! Yeah, you! Remember two years ago, when you wrote, and I quote “New York is sinking back into pre-Giuliani chaos”? Do you? And do you remember when I wrote, one year ago (not too politely, I admit) the following: “Uh, Kevin, you lying sack of shit, crime in the Big Apple declined…
Hard Rock, Cocoa, & Joe
Merry Christmas!
Jennie Made Her Mind Up
There’s an amusing though frequently verging on depressing kerflusterfuck waxing and waning on the right, triggered by a column in the National Review by Charles C. W. Cooke, who, in addition to being to being the only person I know to use two middle initials—in homage, one can only assume, to legendary Bonnie & Clyde…
Monkie Painkie—“Bemsha Swing”
By the modest group Monkie Painkie, who provide no information that I can find as to who they are. Need more Monk? Yes, you do. Go to Mostly Monk and continue your education.
La Trahison des Milliardaires
In 1927, Frenchman Julien Benda wrote La Trahison des Clercs (“The Treason of the Intellectuals”), a plea, basically, for a return to Enlightenment thinking. Well, we could definitely do with a little more enlightenment thinking these days—and a little more enlightenment as well—but our real problem is not so much treacherous intellectuals as treacherous billionaires…